My first half marathon was a beautiful disaster...

"Are you ok" asked a random runner as he passed me. "Yeah just moving slow, I'm cramped pretty bad" I replied as I stopped to stretch. Reaching into his pack he said "Do you need a salt tab or anything?" "Nah, we're almost there and I've never had one before but thanks" I replied. "Ok, hang in there" my new friend said as he continued on.


Training and getting sick.

I really wanted to tackle this distance. I've been close to running 13.1 in my weekly long runs but had never gone that far. I think 7.5 miles was my max. I had set out to tackle 13 miles at a state park that is close to my house. Doing some short runs during the week and a long run on the weekend was my game plan.

The short runs were going well and the long runs were getting longer. Three weeks out from the race I cracked 8 miles and I was feeling great. Two weeks out I was planning on going 9+ miles but I was rushed to get out of the house and didn't eat a good breakfast. I ended up bonking at 5 miles and called it a day. One week left and I was determined to get to 10 miles. I ran my usual route and got to 9.8 miles or so.

Feeling pretty good with that I went into the week before the race doing some light runs and walks, that was the plan anyway. Monday I walked, Tuesday I ran at the local track, Wednesday I got sick with a cold... I was crushed. Would I be sick for the race? Should I even bother now? I decided to just see what the rest of the week would bring. After lots of vitamins and good food I was feeling all right the night before the race.


The big day.

My wife, who was running the 5 mile course, and I arrived in plenty of time to get our numbers and warm up a bit. I was starting at 9:00 and she was at 9:15 so I gave her a kiss and queued up at the start. Feeling pretty good, just barely a hint of the cold I had earlier in the week. I started off in the back of the pack which is just fine with me but that had a couple disadvantages like trying to maneuver around people stopping to take pictures. In a race? Meh, ok, this is the back of the pack after all. First part of the course was downhill, cool no problems there.

Then the climb started. The profile of the course indicated that there is a 5 mile climb of about 1800', pretty long but nothing that I hadn't done on my long runs. So up we went. I'm falling into my slow climbing pace and doing pretty well "this is all right" I think to myself. My watch beeps, thirty minutes have gone by so I pop a Cliff ShotBlox in my mouth and wash it down with some electrolyte drink and water. Still going up. Back and forth on some great single tracks through a beautiful redwood forest. Awesome, right?

Still climbing and now the fast people doing the 5 mile course are starting to pass me, a little demoralizing but I'm fine with being slow. The courses split in two and I'm off to a new section of trail with some pretty steep climbs. I start to walk-run some sections. Still hanging in there, I'm looking through the trees to find blue sky and the top of the ridge. My watch beeps again, more CliffBlox and fluids. The trail climbs up and meets a trail that leads along the ridge then to the aid station. By this point I'm getting kinda winded. "This is more climbing than I expected" I think to myself but on I go, I'm almost to the top.

Now I can see people on the ridge trail, I'm almost there! "Shit. Are you serious?" I turn a corner to see a long STEEP section that is the last part of the trail before the ridge. Screw this, I'm walking it. I finally get up to the ridge trail, collect myself, and start to run again. Hmm, my stomach doesn't feel right. Well all I have to do is make it to the aid station, run another 2 miles, turnaround and head back to the aid station. Then I can stop and rest for a few.

The 2 miles past the aid station was an out, to a very unceremonious turn around, and back to start the second half of the course. So out and back I went. This section of the course wound around the top of the ridge and was noticeably warmer than the cool shade of the redwoods. This is where things started to go downhill for me, figuratively and literally.

After filling up my water bottle, having a snack, and thanking the volunteers (always thank them) I was off again. Running for a bit I was feeling okay but not great. My stomach hurt and my legs started cramping. "No! This is the downhill part, the easier part, and now I'm cramping up" I said to myself. I eventually started walking and trying to pull it together.

The miles passed really slow and I was only 9 miles into this. The next few miles were pretty dark. I went from "I can finish this" to "Well the road is right there. Maybe I can hitch a ride back." "Should I just sit down for a bit" it sounded great but I knew I would have a tough time getting back up.  I was walking slow with cramped calves. At one point is was a struggle to keep going up an uphill section. Of course there were other runners whizzing by me. I admired an older gent who was running slowly past me.

Finally I reached the fire road that lead back to the finish line and the end of this suffering. About 2 miles left. Somehow I mustered the mental strength to run a little bit, my legs cramped even more. I stopped to stretch a little. When my new friend from the beginning of the story stopped. That little gesture brought me up enough to start running again.



The finish!

Less than 1 mile to go I got the biggest surprise, which totally made my whole day better. I could see the park, I could see the finish, and I could see some moms with little kids along the side of the trail. They saw me coming and started cheering. "What?? Well this is awesome!" I've been suffering for the past few hours and now I've got little kids cheering me on? I seriously almost started crying. Just a matter of yards to go and I'm back in the park. I can see the finish! I'm going to do it!
As I run through the park and out to the field where the finish line is everyone around the finish starts cheering! "Woohoo!! GO!" "Good job!" "Way to go!!!" I was amazed. I crossed the finish line and a lady put a medal around my neck. My wife ran up and said "You did it! I'm so proud of you. You did a half marathon!"

We went over to the picnic area and I finally got to sit down. I had the best Coke of my life and half a banana, also the best banana of my life. I saw the race director, who congratulated me on my finish, and thanked him for the great course. I finished in about 3:50. Pretty slow, ok really slow. I'm pretty sure if I didn't have the stomach and cramping issues I'd be closer to 3:15 which was my target time.

What next?

After just about a week off I'm back to running and looking at my next race. I had this idea a while ago that if I could do a couple half marathons and really trained well I'd be able to tackle the Big Basin Marathon that goes along the Skyline to Sea trail in the Santa Cruz mountains. Ambitious? Yeah probably, but it will be fun to train for it. In the immediate future I'm getting ready to do the 25k course at the Spooner's Cove Trail Run coming up in January. This time I'll be better prepared and my fitness should be a bit better too.


The positive energy and kindness of everyone at my first half marathon was absolutely amazing. The volunteers at the aid station, the race director, and even the runners themselves were just flat out awesome. If you're ever looking for a fun event to run take a look at Coastal Trail Runs. The put on a number of events here in California, mostly in the SF Bay Area.